Unstoppable Durham march on
DURHAM County continue to have their foot at the neck of the local game!
Fresh off their series whitewash victory over Zimbabwe A in the two three-day matches, the English county side have since joined the Zimbabwe domestic T20 League which wraps up this weekend.
At the halfway mark, neither rain nor shine seems capable of stopping the English County juggernaut as Durham top the six-team competition at the halfway mark.
They are unbeaten after three games and have eight points from the same number of games.
Rhinos (5), Eagles (4), Southern Rocks, Mountaineers (2) and Tuskers (0) wrap up the log standings. However, it appears that their unbeaten run is but the tip of the iceberg of their dominance as Durham have shined with both bat and ball.
Their team have averaged over 175 runs during their three matches and currently have the best net run rate (2.878) of all the six participating teams.
Their last victory over Southern Rocks on Tuesday was but a display of the English County side’s batting and bowling power.
Much like he did during the three-day matches and first T20 games, Colin Ackermann again played a major part in Durham’s fine performance as they beat Rocks by 16 runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis calculations.
The English county side like winning the toss and batting first, and they were able to do both again in this rain-affected match.
Although Alex Lees went for six, Graham Clark (35) and Bas de Leede (29) put on 61 for the second wicket in just over eight overs.
It was at this juncture that Ackermann came in and powered his way to 52 off only 23 balls, with three sixes and four fours.
Ollie Robinson (27) was his partner in a fourth-wicket partnership of 79 in just over seven overs, and it enabled Durham to reach the total of 174 for five wickets.
The 174 for five happens to be their lowest total of the competition so far.
Jalat Khan and Dylan Hondo took two wickets apiece for Rocks, for 23 and 26 runs respectively, but most of the other bowlers suffered quite severely.
Rocks suffered a big blow in the chase as they lost Cephas Zhuwao for six runs.
Eddie Byron and Roy Kaia put together a promising partnership of 35 runs in just over four overs before Kaia was out for 17.
At this point, 43 for two after 5.3 overs, a shower of rain arrived and quite spoiled the match as a contest.
When it ceased, Rocks now had a new target of 88 runs in nine overs and needed another 45 runs off only 21 balls.
However, It was a hopeless task as they found themselves losing three more wickets from the first six deliveries of the resumption.
In Tuesday’s other matches, Eagles kept their finals push on track courtesy of a twowicket victory over Rhinos.
Two fours off successive deliveries from tail-ender Owen Muzondo took Eagles to a thrilling two-wicket victory over Rhinos with two balls to spare in a close encounter played at Old Hararians Sports Club.
Rhinos again showed great consistency when put in to bat, with six of their top seven batters all scoring 15 or more.
Antum Naqvi and Ryan Burl made 29 and 27 apiece, Tarisai Musakanda added 19, while the final momentum to their innings was given by Nyasha Mayavo and Tashinga Musekiwa.
The last pair put on 29 off the last two overs of the innings, with Musekiwa hitting 20 runs off nine balls, while Mayavo was the top scorer with an unbeaten 36 off 29 balls, which included two sixes and three fours.
Marshall Takodza was the best of the bowlers, with two for 21 off his four overs.
Eagles lost the wicket of Tinashe Kamunhukamwe in the first over, but Craig Ervine made 28 off 20 balls, and a crucial innings was played by Tadiwanashe Marumani who almost took his team home to victory.
He had useful support in vital stands with Takodza (13) and Chamu Chibhabha (14), just keeping in touch with the required run rate all the time.
The last dramatic over was bowled by Neville Madziva with Eagles on 158 runs for six and needing seven runs off it to win.
Madziva seemed to have won the match for Rhinos when he had Marumani caught off his first ball for an excellent 75 (48 balls, four sixes, six fours), and then the new man Hamza Sajjad caught off his next ball.
However, this was the point at which Muzondo came in and slashed his two match-winning boundaries past point to take Eagles to victory.
This was Rhinos’ first defeat in the competition after two victories.
The local T20 competition returns today with the highly-anticipated clash between perennial rivals Eagles and Mountaineers at Old Hararians this morning.
Tuskers meet Southern Rocks during the afternoon games while Durham meets Rhinos. — ZimCricket/Sports Reporter. Latest Standings
MWLT NR PTS NRR
Durham 3 3 0 0 0 8 2.878
Rhinos 3 2 1 0 0 5 0.490
Eagles 3 2 1 0 0 4 -0.928
Southern Rocks 3 1 2 0 0 2 -0.016
Mountaineers 3 1 2 0 0 2 -0.779
Tuskers 3 0 3 0 0 0 -1.110
TWELVE local swimmers are set to compete at the South Africa Junior Age Group Championships this month at Kings Park Swimming Pool in Durban.
The competition is running from March 15 to 20.
The swimmers qualified for the championships during various local galas and are expected to depart for South Africa on March 14.
They will be accompanied by coach Ricardo Joe and manager Tendai Manenji.
Manenji said the meet gives their swimmers an opportunity to compete with some of the best swimmers as they expect tough competition in South Africa.
“Talent is discovered at this level of swimming. So I am very pleased to have this number of swimmers… Generally, everybody is